Times of Change

Disclaimer:  Inuyasha and all of its characters don't belong to me.  Neither does Kurama (he's from the cast of Yu Yu Hakusho).  This isn't a crossover as he's the only character from that series in this.  Why?  You'll find out later.  *grins* I do claim all original characters though, even the bad ones.  Well that about wraps it up, let me know what you think at the end!

Author's Note- Ranma Higurashi, were do I live?  In New Orleans, Louisiana.  *smiles*  But we're a bit ash, flooded right now but anyways…

Anata, I'm trying to get to your 'fluff part' it's just taking a bit, Inuyasha just has to learn a few things first *grins* just like a few other people…

DemonBlade, Thanks for the compliment, I figured that just because they might get sliced and diced they should still be able to laugh about it.  *sees people glaring at her* Joking!  Sheesh, get a sense of humor…

Chapter 4:  Dance Once and then Again

            Kagome and Sango made Destiny and Shad go stand off to the side together so that they could look them over and smiled at the picture they made.  Destiny's long dark blue dress was very form fitting in the bodice but flowed out to allow her movement, it was square cut with spaghetti straps but not really revealing, in Kagome's opinion that is.  Shad made a very dashing picture in his very nice form fitting clothes.  The black pants and white shirt complimented Destiny's dress wonderfully.  The two siblings also looked good standing together, one was dark as night and the other light as the moon.  Now if we could just get them to stop picking on one another…  Kagome thought with a sigh.

            "You look horrible."  Shad told his sister straight-faced.

            "Likewise, you need a bath as well."  She replied just as seriously.

            "I?  I am perfection."  Shad stated and then frowned and mouthed 'where did that come from?'

            "Oh really?  Says who?"

            "Uh…" Shad looked over his shoulder and saw Kagome and Inuyasha standing far apart and grinned.  "Inuyasha.  He said he likes my looks."  He answered smugly as he turned to face his sister again.  Three…  Two…  One…

            "What!  No way in hell!"  Inuyasha yelled.

            I am so good.  Shad thought smugly.  Inuyasha had jumped from his current position and had landed right beside Kagome and now had his hand on her shoulder while he scowled at him.  The other bunch were just smiling, they had wisely decided not to laugh at Inuyasha's expense for once.  "No one loves me anymore!"  He cried sadly and pulled Destiny over to him and acted like he was fixing to cry but stopped when she started laughing.  "Destiny," he said sternly, "you're supposed to be helping me here."  He whined.

            Destiny stopped but didn't bother to hide her smile as she kissed his cheek.  "You are just plain crazy."  She stated.

            "Of course."  He agreed instantly.  But look at those two.  He told her and Destiny looked and noted that Inuyasha and Kagome were now unconsciously holding hands.

            You are very tricky heart-brother.  She said.

            Well of course!

            Shad apologized to Inuyasha shortly and got a glare and a 'feh' in return.  "I think you made him mad."  Kagome said to Shad reproachfully.

            "Yes but I don't see you upset with the results."  He returned with a grin and looked at pointedly at Inuyasha and Kagome's linked hands.  Kagome blushed and stammered, "I…. uh-"

            "They're here."  Destiny interrupted and moved from Kurama's side back to Shad's.  Once they presented a unified front the two walked to the center of the village to meet the two youkai who were waiting.  The other's followed quietly and all around you could see the villagers watching uneasily.

            "Well, well, well, the hanyou sends humans to do his work."  Elena sneered.

            "Do you always run your mouth like a mosquito that won't shut up?"  Destiny returned sweetly.

            "Little brat!  Who are you?"  Elena hissed.

            "Someone who is very bored.  So?  Let's see what you got."  She taunted the female youkai.

            "Insolent human!"  Elena snarled and would have attacked but Tavol stopped her.  The female human was beautiful, like the man beside her but they were too calm, and he could faintly sense a hint of danger about them.  It would be better to finish this fight their way.  There were no dancers anywhere better than he and Elena.

            "Shall we begin?"  He asked them.

            "By all means."  Shad answered and they moved back out of the way.

            Elena wore an elaborate black and gold free flowing shirt and a white peasant blouse that was off the shoulder, low cut, and showed all of her stomach.  Tavol was dressed in black and gold as well, but he wasn't as obvious as Elena was being..

            "Ten meals that they're going to do the tango."  Shad whispered to Destiny.

            "No deal, I agree."  She replied.

            Suddenly, the hot sensual music of the tango could be heard.  "Eh?"  Shad asked in confusion.

            "They're using the shards to make the music."  Kagome explained softly.

            "Well aren't they clever."  He said and they all turned their attention back to the two youkai.

            Suddenly the music intensified and their attention was drawn to the two youkai in the center of the village as they moved in perfect sync with the hot seductive music.  They performed wonderfully and included everything in the dance.  The long, slow, heated looks that promised much more later than what they showed now and the body chemistry that made this dance so hypnotic.  All of the men with the exceptions of Kurama, Inuyasha, and Shad were entranced by sensual promise of the dance. 

            "Oh man.  How are you two going to beat them?"  Miroku asked worriedly.

            "Simple."  Shad answered, his eyes never leaving the two youkai. 

            "What do you mean?  They're really good."  Kagome asked in puzzlement.

            "They've done this too many times.  It's still good but it doesn't come form the heart, it makes it routine, ordinary, predictable.  That's something that no dancer wants."  Shad answered and Destiny nodded her agreement.

            "They're not paying attention to us."  Kagome whispered to Inuyasha.

            "That's because they're paying attention to them."  He answered with a snort and got smacked on the arm.

            Finally the music began to wind down and the two ended the tango with a grand flare that included Elena in Tavol's arms.  Elena looked over at Destiny and smirked.  "Beat that humans."  She taunted.

            "Gladly."  The answered with a grin and walked out in the middle of the village as the two youkai retreated to the sidelines.

            "Love is a many splendid thing.  Love, lifts us up where we belong.  All you need is love."  He said to her.

            "Please, don't start that again."  She pleaded, and from somewhere music began to play…

            Shad grinned at her and sung:

All you need is love.

"A girl has got to eat"  She argued.

All you need is love.

"Or she'll end up on the street."  She continued.

All you need is love.

Destiny sighed and finally sung:

Love is just a game.

Shad grinned as he continued to sing to her.

I was made for lovin you baby, you were made for lovin me.

Destiny tossed her head and walked towards him as she sang:

The only way of loving me baby, is to pay a lovely fee.

And she turned away from him then and walked a short distance away before he stopped her.

Just one night.  Just one night.

He pleaded and held out his hand to her and she whirled around.

There's no way cause you can't pay!

He smiled and tried to coax her

In the name of love, one night in the name of love!

She walked back up to him as she sang and poked him lightly in the chest.

You crazy fool.  I won't give into you.

After singing her part she started to turn away but was stopped when he touched her arm gently and sang:

Don't.  Leave me this way.  I can't survive without your sweet love.  Oh, baby, don't leave me this way.

Destiny sighed and turned around sadly as she gently sang:

You'd think that people would've had enough of silly love songs.

Shad smiled and wrapped his arms around her gently.

I look around me and I see, it isn't so, oh no.

Destiny sighed softly and looked away.

Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs.

Shad grinned and let her go as he took a running leap and jumped on top of the roof of one of the villager's huts and sang:

And what's wrong with that, I'd like to know.  Cause here I go, again!

Love lifts us up where we belong!

Where eagles fly on a mountain high!

Destiny tossed her hair back and shook her head as she glared up ay him and sung:

Love makes us act like we are fools.

Throw our lives away!  For one happy day!

And then she turned around and would have stalked away but he jumped down in front of her and stopped her very efficiently.

We could be heroes!  Just for one day.

Destiny shook her head and backed up from him and pointed her finger at him as she sang.

You.  You will be mean.

Shad chuckled and shook his head.  "No, I won't."  He said with a grin and she sighed and sung out almost desperately as she walked away from him.

And I?  I'll drink all the time!

Shad smiled and sand out clearly:

We should be lovers!

Destiny sighed and shook her head and disagreed.

We can't do that.

Shad however didn't seem to agree as he insisted again.

We should be lovers!  And that's a fact.

Destiny finally stopped and looked back over at Shad and they were able to see the first crack in her defense.

Though nothing will keep us together!

Shad smiled and walked to her and sang out as he placed his hands on her shoulders.

We could still time…

And then she put her hands in his and they began to waltz as they both sang without breaking eye contact.

…just for one day.

We could be heroes forever and ever!

We could be heroes forever and ever!

We could be heroes!

Then Shad broke off as he sang out in his warm tenor voice.

Just because I, I, will always love you!

Then Destiny sang clearly:

I, I will always love you

Then they stopped waltzing and just looked at each other a moment before Destiny softly sang:

How wonderful life is…

And then Shad joined her to finish the last bit of the song and they sang together in a perfect meshing of voices:

…now you're in the world…!

            Inuyasha and the others just stared at the two of them.  Throughout the whole song they had been making graceful dance moves that added to accent the very nature of the song that they were singing with out making it too risqué.  There was one thing that bothered Inuyasha though.  How could a human jump that high with only a little bit of effort?  It was like he was and wasn't, human.  Inuyasha growled quietly in his throat and glanced over at Kurama and Destiny.  So what are they?  He wondered.

            On the other side the two demons glared at the humans.  Although the dancing had been minimal, it had been very good.  That added to their voices had made it better than what they had done.  "This isn't possible,"  Tavol murmured.  "We've lived for hundreds of years, those two are merely whelps.  They couldn't be better than us."  Elena looked at him contemptuously and tossed her hair back and headed towards Destiny with a malicious glint in her eye.

            "You call that a dance?"  She sneered at the two.  What are they?  Lovers?  She wondered quietly to herself.  "Since when is singing and prancing around dancing?"  Elena taunted.

            "Oh, so you want more then?"  Shad asked calmly.

            "You don't scare me.  If you're so confident let the girl dance.  Alone."

            Destiny and Shadow glanced at each other briefly but it was Destiny who answered.  "With pleasure."  And then they turned away and walked back to their friends.

            "Well?  What's going on?"  Inuyasha demanded.

            "Come with us.  All of you."  Shad said and quickly ushered them all into an empty hut that they'd taken over for their supplies.

            "Okay.  We're at a stalemate.  We have to perform again but Destiny is the one who has to uh, be the main attraction."  He said and pulled off his shirt hurriedly and grabbed a case and chunked it at Destiny who caught it deftly.

            "Shadow.  Destiny."  Kurama said mildly when he realized that they were both fixing to start stripping down to change into different outfits.  The two siblings sighed in annoyance and glared at him and then at Inuyasha and all of the others.

            "Fine."  Destiny said and lifted up her hand and instantly a cloth barrier was between them and the others and another divider separated her and Shad from one another.  "You know, this is kinda stupid."  She muttered at them.

            "I agree."  Shad second.

            Kurama smiled slightly and shook his head at the curtain.  "You two will get over it."  He said and received two disbelieving snorts in reply.

            "You mean to say that they would have stripped right in front of us?"  Miroku asked with a dreamy look in his eyes.

            "Get your mind out of the gutter."  Sango said using a phrase that Kagome had told her and hit him hard over the head.

            "Wait a minute!  How did you jump so high?  And how did she just make that barrier appear?"  Inuyasha snarled.

            "Can't this wait till later?"  Destiny grumbled but now that he'd brought it up the others wanted to know as well.

            "That's right.  How can you do things like that?"  Kagome asked.

            "Are you a witch?"  Shippo asked in confusion.

            Shad stepped out from behind the curtain with his black pants still on but now he had a short sleeved made out of silky shimmery material then and looked at the young kitsune thoughtfully.  "Why would you think that?"  He asked curiously.

            "Because only witches can do magic."

            "And what about your friend there?"  He asked him and nodded towards Kagome.

            "She's a miko." 

            "Ah yes.  I'd forgotten."  He murmured and looked back at the others.  "We can do things like that for the same reason that you breathe.  We just do."  He answered.

            "Oh now there's an answer."  Kurama said sarcastically.

            "Isn't it though?"  Shad replied innocently and Destiny came out from behind the curtain.

            "Behave you two."  She said warningly and then stopped moving when she noticed all of them gaping at her.  "Now what?"  She asked a little irritated.  Shad turned to look at her then as well but just shrugged.  He didn't understand either.  Destiny was wearing a black leather skirt that stopped about five inches from her knees and had a slit on one side to allow her more movement.  She wore a dark blue sequined belly shirt that had a square neckline and one-inch straps.  Her hair was down and flowed freely down her back.  She even had on dangerously high heels to complete the look.

            "Thee cannot go out there wearing that!"  Kaede protested.

            Destiny grinned as she clasped a diamond choker around her neck and put on the matching bracelet that went with it.  "Sorry, no choice."  She answered and hurriedly snapped a diamond anklet onto her right ankle.

            "What are you going to do?"  Sango asked.

            "A lot,"  she answered and looked at all of them thoughtfully, "actually I could use your help as well."  She said and began to explain her plan.

~ Ugh!  This took forever to write!  Sorry if this chapter isn't as good but I had to break it up otherwise it'd be a whole lot longer.  Alright the next chapter should get Tavol and Elena out of the way…  A few things get passed between Kagome and Inuyasha…  *glares at the bad minded people*  No!  Not that kind of stuff.  Oh bleh, you'll just have to read to see.  Don't forget to review and don't worry.  I'm putting the spotlight on Inuyasha and Kagome soon.  Now click the little box thingy down there pleeease? ~